Promise’s Prayer, by Erika Mathews

“He promised to save the land. She received a divine calling.
But how can mere prayer quench his restlessness and her fears?

“Walking behind a plow day in and day out gets boring for a nineteen-year-old who longs for nothing more than adventure. In the midst of the rampant lawlessness and love of pleasure that drive their country, Kaelan Ellith yearns to make a difference. When a promise at his mother’s deathbed gives him the impetus to do just that, he’s off to the capital city to bring back the knowledge of Adon Olam. Despite his natural leadership skills, his schemes keep going awry, and lost people keep passing into eternity without hope. How can he ever keep such an impossible promise?

“Shy Carita Kostan knows the voice of Adon Olam, and she desires nothing more than to follow His calling: “Love. Serve. Pray. Persevere.” Yet how can she minister His love to her neighbors when her soul is tormented by their unmet needs and handicapped by her own paralyzing fears?

“When the true nature of his promise and her call begin to surface, Kaelan and Carita just might discover how saving the world is entirely different than they imagined . . . if they have the humility and the courage to receive it.

“A clean, family-friendly Christian kingdom adventure fiction novel for all ages.” ~from Amazon

Title: Promise’s Prayer (Truth from Taerna Book 1)

Author: Erika Mathews

Genre(s): Christian Fantasy/Allegory

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ (four stars)

Romance Content: N/A

Recommended age range: 14+? for references to sin

My Review:

I enjoyed reading this book! The storyline was interesting. I appreciate the message that doing what God wants does not always include “saving the world” or doing anything “big” and that prayer does indeed change things!

While fantasy is not always something I choose to read, I appreciated that there is no magic in this book (the closest would be when Carita sees a vision and is spoken to by Adon Olam). Please note that I do not believe in visions or God speaking directly to people other than through God’s Word. I also found the whole “religious” aspect of the book to be rather strange: God is known as Adon Olam, there does not seem to be a Bible as such but characters think of Scripture verses (in which God’s Name is changed to Adon Olam), and there is no clear position on regular church, though believers do gather at times.

A main part of the story is that the people of Taerna (the nation in which the story takes place) are focused on pursuing pleasure, which the main characters do not agree with. References are made to many forms of sin and immorality, though in no detail. However, for this reason I would not recommend this book to children.

This book kept my attention but was not riveting, and while I enjoyed it, I did not love it. Perhaps later books in the series will be better! I would be willing to read other books in the Truth from Taerna series, and I would recommend this book to older readers.